A New Kind of Flying Bishop?
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March/April 2000 Volume 19, Number 2 THE BI-MONTHLY MAGAZINE OF THE PRAYER BOOK SOCIETY A New Kind of Flying Bishop? Archbishop Moses Tay John Rodgers Chuck Murphy Archbishop Emmanuel Kolini Two American citizens who are priests of the Episcopal Church are now also fly-in Bishops from Asia and Africa. See inside pages 2ff. for details and comment. THE LIVING PAST FOR THE PRESENT AND INTO THE FUTURE SINGAPORE CONSECRATIONS o understand the background to the Consecrations in Singapore on 1. Initial Press Release from Singapore, January 29,2000 TJanuary 29 it is necessary to be aware of this Letter to the Participants and invited observers attending the Group of Primates meeting held in NEW BISHOPS FROM AFRICA AND ASIA CONSECRATED Kampala, 16th to 18th November 1999. AND SENT TO THE UNITED STATES As we come to the end of this consultation together, we thank God St. Andrew's Cathedral, Singapore, January 29, 2000 for our fellowship with you in our Lord Jesus Christ. We deeply respect your devotion to Christian truth and commitment to mission and service. An intemational group of Anglican Archbishops and Bishops today We also hear and understand what you have told us about examples of consecrated the Rev. Charles H. Murphy HI and the Very Rev. Dr. John abandonment of Anglican teaching, discipline and practices in the H. Rodgers Jr., as Bishops who will be released to minister in the United provinces from which you come. We share your distress on account ofthe States of America. "The releasing of bishops into another province is an damage and harmful results of these increasingly serious developments. action not without precedence in the Anghcan Communion " said Bishop C. FitzSimons Allison, former bishop of South Carolina. We declare our solidarity with you first of all in prayer. Together we have seen that God's Church is healed only through God's grace, mercy Murphy, the rector of one of the fastest growing Episcopal Churches and power. We assure you, too, that among us are those ready to respond in the U.S., and Rodgers, Dean Emeritus of Trinity Episcopal School for to specific and urgent situations which may arise in the months before the Ministry in Ambridge, Pennsylvania, have agreed to step forward at this Primates' Meeting in Portugal from. 23rd to 28th March. Parishes and moment of crisis, in an initiative aimed at reversing a 30-year decline of clergy under threat because of their loyalty to the Gospel and to Anglican 30 percent in the membership of the Episcopal Church of the U.S.A. standards must be supported and we will play our part in such support. "This crisis of decline is a of the Christian Faith that has left the Episcopal Church divided," said Rodgers. "Our calMng is to minister to At the forthcoming Primates' Meeting we will inform our colleagues those congregations who beheve that the authority of Scripture and the of the intolerable situation that you and others like you are facing. We historic Creeds are central to our Faith, conduct, and unity as Anghcans," will carefully document and commend a proposal to this meeting which, said Murphy. we believe, will address the problems in our Communion caused by mis use of autonomy and innovations exceeding the limits of our Anglican The two Bishops will provide pastoral support, guidance, and over diversity. In this we will be acting upon Resolution 1116(B) Lambeth '98. sight at the request of clergy and congregations that want to continue in the doctrine, discipline and worship of Christ as the Anghcan Church has We will be seeking agreement on and the progressive implementa received them. They will actively seek to plant Anglican missions in areas tion of effective measures to ensure a retum to historic standard for ordi where there are receptive communities and httle faithful witness in the nation, moral and marriage disciplines where in our communion these Episcopal Church. "We are committed to lead the Church—not leave it," have been notoriously breached. Our endeavor here accords with said Murphy. Lambeth Resolution 1.10. The Archbishops and Bishops agree that this is a Gospel issue, not We are aware that until orthodox Episcopal oversight is restored in a political issue. It is an action to re-establish the unity that has been vio all dioceses there will be serious restriction upon mission and acute dif lated by the unrebuked ridicule and denial of basic Christian teaching. ficulties in pastoral care. As a clear goal we aim for such resolution. For They are convinced it is time to give the faithful in the US a place to its realization we will take all the measures available consistent with our remain Anghcan. obedience to Christ, submission to the authority of Scripture and accord ing to our ordination vows. We seek to share your pain but cannot prom This bold initiative is intended to help Arch bishops from around the ise to eliminate it. world take seriously the need for the reform and renewal of the Episcopal Church at their meeting next month in Lisbon, Portugal. We have greatly valued this second consultation. Our representa tives have formally visited ECUSA. We see no immediate need for setting The sending of these Bishops back to the United States is offered as up a third consultation on this scale. Be assured of our sharp awareness an interim step in an ongoing effort to lead the Episcopal Church back to of this discord that directly affects our churches as well as yours and our its biblical foundations. determination to find and follow Christ's way ahead. The consecrators were The Most Reverend Emmanuel Kohni, Brothers and sisters pray for us as we do for you. Archbishop of the Province of Rwanda; The Most Reverend Moses Tay, Archbishop of the Province of South East Asia; The Right Reverend John Yours in Christ, Ruchyahana, the Diocese of Shyira in Rwanda. They were assisted by The Right Reverend C. Fitzimmons Allison, the thirteenth Bishop of the The Most Rev E. M. Kolini, Rwanda Diocese of South Carolina, Episcopal Church, USA; The Right Reverend The Most Rev Dr Livingstone Mpalanyi-Nkoyoyo, Uganda Alex D. Dickson, the first Bishop of the Diocese of West Tennessee, The Most Rev Patrice Byankya Njojo, DR Congo Episcopal Church, USA; and The Right Reverend David Pytches, the for The Most Rev Samuel Ndayisenga, Burundi mer Bishop of Chile, Bolivia and Peru. The Most Rev Moses Tay, S. E. Asia The Most Rev Donald Mtetemela, Tanzania For further information contact: The Rt. Rev. Charles Murphy, First The Rt Rev Massassel B. Dawidi, representing the Sudan Promise, 843-237-0318, The Rt. Rev. Dr. John Rodgers, Association of The Rt Rev Peter Njenga, representing Kenya Anghcan Congregations on Mission, 847-486-9711. + The Most Rev Maurice Sinclair, Southem Cone of America 2 MANDATE: March/April 2000 The Prayer Book Society 2. Letters from the Presiding Bishop of the ECUSA (a) For the primates of the Anglican Communion My dear brothers: I have been profoundly disturbed by the caricature that has been presented of the Episcopal Church in the United States as being disre garding of scripture and the classical doctrines of the church. To be sure there are divergent views on the question of human sexuality which are supported by different readings and interpretations of the biblical texts, but in no way is the biblical record treated as other than the word of God "containing all things necessary to salvation." With regard to doctrine, I know of no active bishops who are other than completely orthodox in their understanding of the creeds. I therefore regard the actions of the primates of Rwanda and South East Asia as singularly unhelpful at a time when we in the Episcopal Church are seeking to upbuild and strengthen our fundamental unity in faith for the sake of mission to a broken and needy world. The enclosed letter is self-explanatory and I wanted you to have a copy of it, particularly as we look ahead to the primates meeting at which time I sincerely hope the intemal hfe of the Episcopal Church will not be the dominant topic of our time together. Let us not be deflect ed from the larger concems of genocide, crushing poverty side by side with inordinate affluence, and the dangerous fundamentalism—both within Islam and our own Christian community—which threatens to tum our God of compassion into a idol of wrath. Yours in Christ, The Most Rev. Frank T. Griswold Presiding Bishop and Primate, The Episcopal Church January 31, 2000 (b) For all bishops Dear brothers and sisters: I have just leamed this morning, as perhaps you have as well, that Saturday in Singapore two primates of the Anghcan Communion, the Most Rev. Emmanuel Kohni, Archbishop of the Province of Rwanda, and the Most Rev. Moses Tay, Archbishop of the Province of South East Asia, along with Bishop Ruchyahana also of Rwanda, and two retired bishops of our Province, Alex Dicks on and Fitzsimmons Allison, have ordained two priests of our church, John H. Rodgers and Charles H. Murphy, as bishops. Their press release says that they have "agreed to step forward at this moment of crisis, in an initiative aimed at reversing a 30-year decline of 30 percent in the membership ofthe Episcopal Church in the U.S.A." I am appalled by this irregular action and even more so by the purported "crisis" that has been largely fomented by them and others, and which bears very little resemblance to the church we actually know, which is ahve and well and faithful, as the Zacchaeus report so clearly indicates.